The Real Deal

In 1991, John Hammond brought a great horse called Suave Dancer to the Curragh for the Irish Derby and saw him beaten by another great horse. It still hurts because it could have been different.

"I was responsible. I gave Walter Swinburn very stupid orders. I gave him no flexibility. That really was a two-horse race between us and Generous and I told Walter to make sure to drop out. He was six lengths off Generous from the beginning and you cannot give your only opponent a six-length start. They say the best horse won on the day, and maybe he did, but. . ."

The long pause says it all. "What if?" really is the most infuriating thought. Later that year, Suave Dancer gave Generous only the scent of his scorch marks in the Arc but that epic clash around the Curragh's bald plain still rankles a bit.

Not that Hammond will ever be too obvious about it. The tall, spare figure has too good a line in mildly sardonic humour ever to indulge in a woe-is-me tirade.

At 39, he is established as one of the leading trainers in France. One disappointment at the start of the decade cannot compete with a 200-strong stable of horses in the leafy splendour of Chantilly or a hard-won position towards the forefront of European trainers. And there is the real hope that in Montjeu, he is bringing a horse to tomorrow's Irish Derby who will revenge Suave Dancer.

That's the sort of emotive language that no doubt makes Hammond groan. Training a Derby candidate is hard enough without unnecessary baggage, especially when depending on an uncontrollable like the weather not drying the ground out too much. Yet it would be short-sighted to ignore some obvious comparisons between Montjeu and Suave Dancer.

Both brilliant four-length French Derby winners after being beaten in the Prix Lupin. Both possessed of a blinding burst of finishing speed and both with a tendency to hang at the end of their races. Trainers asked to compare different generations usually say the question is impossible. Significantly though, Hammond takes the question and runs with it.

"Montjeu hung in the Jockey Club because he is still quite babyish and it showed. He was four lengths clear and on his own, but he is learning all the time. Put it like this, I don't think he'll end up in the Curragh stands!

"Also I have no stamina worries with this horse. Suave Dancer hung because he was running out of air. I believe now that he never really stayed a mile and a half," he says. Class got Suave Dancer through and the intriguing thought is that Montjeu may possess that same level of quality if he is allowed show it tomorrow. "I'm wary of pumping horses up beforehand. Montjeu proved he is very good in the Jockey Club but it's something else for a horse to go on and compete in races like the Arc," Hammond says.

Yet the prospect of Montjeu having that indefinable extra that makes champions is real enough and deliberate pragmatist though he is, Hammond cannot quite disguise his belief that this horse is the real deal.

"He is a late maturing horse by Sadlers Wells and everything suggests he will be better with time. I have to say, I think there is no reason why he can't go on again and be a very decent horse," he says. For John Hammond that is akin to bellowing from the rooftops.

What can be bellowed is that this little rock can lay quite a substantial claim on one of France's top horsemen. Hammond may have the suave tones of Rugby public school in England, but from the age of eight to 20 home was Herbertstown on the Meath/Dublin border.

After his parents split up, Hammond lived in Ireland with his father who became a partner in Osborne, King and Megran estate agents. Summer holidays involved pony-riding, visits to the local bookie and at 15, a visit to Jim Dreaper's racing yard. The bug bit deep.

An antidote was prescribed as being a business studies degree at Trinity College Dublin. The social life revolving around the Lincoln Inn was enjoyable but after two years, Hammond cried enough.

"I just don't have the brain to be an academic. I'd probably have been kicked out if I hadn't left," he remembers with a grin. "It's not something I'm proud of, not having got my degree, but it was my choice and I have been greatly fortunate since."

Fortune doesn't dutifully describe the torturous route to starting as a trainer at 26. Work with Susan Piggott's bloodstock agency in Newmarket was followed by over two years as assistant to Patrick Haslam, 10 months on the loose with a vet in California and then a vital meeting with Mrs Piggott's husband, a certain Lester.

The craggy-faced one remembered Hammond, recommended him to Andre Fabre and two years with racing's "Little Napoleon" put the seal on the learning process. He had already experienced France when bringing horses to Cagnes Sur Mer for Haslam and has stayed ever since.

"The question I'm always asked is will I ever leave, but I enjoy living here, I've got a young family and I've got roots here now. But who's to say what will happen in 10 years. And there are disadvantages to training in France. The costs of running an operation here are huge, so financially it isn't easy," Hammond says.

Although he has had only one runner in Ireland since Suave Dancer's Irish Champion Stakes victory, visits back here for personal reasons are pretty frequent. "If I was wealthy enough, I'd love to buy a small place. But I think I've missed the boat - everywhere is so expensive. I think I'll wait for the crash!" Hammond laughs.

On board Montjeu tomorrow will be Hammond's old ally Cash Asmussen who missed out on riding Suave Dancer at the Curragh, but roared home in last year's Irish Derby on another French colt Dream Well.

The wonderfully articulate Texan rationalised the torrents of abuse he endured during his short stay here riding for Vincent O'Brien with the quip: "Not everyone likes vanilla!"

Hammond describes his working relationship with Asmussen as "on and off" but the mutual respect is clear and the trainer has no doubts Cash will relish having another crack at Ireland's most important race.

"He treats it all as a joke," Hammond considers. "He got heaps of flak in Ireland but as he says himself, he arrived with a big mouth and an even bigger reputation. If it didn't go right, he was always going to get flak. But the thing is he can ride a bit!"

And Montjeu can run a bit. Quite how fast is as yet unproven. But that is the beauty of this horse. He is already a Classic winner and the depth of his talent has yet to be fully tapped.

Going into an Irish Derby, that is a wonderful position for Hammond and Asmussen to be in. All it needs now is for the whole team to be on the same wavelength and any "what ifs" are unlikely to be necessary.